Pipelines are often employed to transport fluids such as petroleum products, natural gas, and water. Fluid flow measurements are often performed at selected pipeline locations to quantify an amount of fluid moving through a pipeline in real-time. While fluid flow can be measured on the basis of volume or mass, mass flow measurements can be preferred. As an example, mass flow measurements can be more accurate than volume flow measurements because, unlike volume, mass does not vary due to changes in pressure or temperature.
While mass flow meters have been developed for direct mass flow measurement of low pressure fluids, these devices can be unsuitable for use with high pressure fluids. As a result, techniques for indirectly measuring mass flow of high pressure fluids have been developed based upon differential pressure and/or density of the fluid. However, because fluid density can be difficult to measure accurately, the accuracy of these indirect mass flow measurements can also suffer.